Delay Tactics

 "I'm hungry!"

"I just came to get a glass of water."

"I can't find the notebook."

"Teachers just don't understand. Why do they pile us up with so much writing?"

"But I already know this. Why do I have to do it again?"

"Yes, yes, I've already started." (The book's not even opened!)

"If I've to do homework, give me my dinner." (As if I don't feed her at all!)

"I'm tired!"

"I'm afraid to sit in that room alone. Can you sit with me at the table?" (All puppy eyes.)

"But you said I can go and play!" ('After doing your homework' wasn't obviously heard.)

And after all this, when finally a word or two are written, along with scowls and frowns, there's still the under-the-breath grumbling...

"Teachers are evil! They make us write."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a teacher and give you all and my teachers so much homework."

I'm going to hold her to up to this promise when she grows up! And I'm going to have fun watching her when my kiddo has to deal with forty more students in her class when they give such reasons for not doing their homework.

Don't Grow Up Yet

Daughters are treasures. They love selflessly. And they grow up too quickly. I have a seven-year old girl who already behaves like an eleven year old. She can make her own lunch, clean up after dinner, do almost all household chores that I do, and still laugh and giggle like only a kid can. Where did the years go?

Come Friday evening, she preps for a 'weekend' where she wants me to get up late and not do any household chores. She prepares a 'breakfast in bed' for me and asks me to lie down and read in the bed for the day. It's an amazing feeling. I've never had anyone do that for me.

Don't get me wrong. My husband does help me at home. We both try to ease each other's load. However, there's nothing so sweet and heart warming than your son or daughter making you sit down and take a breather because you don't get to rest and are too busy for your own good.

The other day, she told me, "I'll do five of your chores. But you only have to play with me for twenty or twenty five minutes." That's all? She just wants twenty five minutes out of my entire twenty four hours? And just to play? No new toy, no favourite dish, just play time! Where did she find that selfless love?

She goes for a daily morning walk just to collect flowers. When she returns from the walk, she shows her treasure to me with a detailed explanation of where she found each flower and what she did on her daily round. Then she quietly asks, "Do you like it when I bring flowers for you?" Good God! Give me strength to answer her without shedding tears of love and joy! Like? Of course not! I love it!

One day, when she's no longer a seven-year old, no longer staying with us because she's studying somewhere else, or is away for work, no longer thinking of getting flowers for me, because she has her own flower-giving person, I'll recall these times!

Girlie, don't grow up yet!

Games Behind Doors

We've all been at home for more than a year now. Not just adults, but kids have adapted to being inside the four walls. Although not an ideal situation at all, kids have learnt to play all sorts of games at home, whether alone, with parents, siblings, or even friends.

Online hobby classes, games, school, tuition, and even get togethers have become the much-needed social interaction windows for children.

But kids are amazingly resilient and adaptive. Not just physically, mentally and emotionally too. They have invented newer games to play at home, even learning to play with each other through the online sessions, and across balconies.

My seven-year old daughter has concocted imaginative games for not just herself, but also for us adults to be involved in. And I'm rather proud to say that I've stolen some of her games to use them as ice-breakers for my team meetings.

Since last year, we started with simple word games such as Name-Place-Animal-Thing and Animal-Sounds moving on to Using Rhyming Words in a limerick, Jumbled Words, Describe an object in the room. It's been amazing to see how my daughter has improved her prowess at words and language.

We've played Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Uno, Carrom, Guess Who?, Pictureka, Scrabble, and some board games that she invented on her own. We've done hide-n-seek, role playing (doctor-doctor, school, hotel, visit to beach, staying in awesome hotels with room service, which is of course provided by my daughter).

She has been a traffic police, doctor and patient, teacher, PT instructor, yoga instructor, pilot, cruise captain, fire fighter, police, paramedic helper, ambulance (the vehicle, all with the beeper sound) and even a robot over the last year. How can you say that the year has not been happening and exhaustive?

I've seen her play and chat with her friends through online meetings, holding art classes for her friends, story telling sessions with her grandpa, and even daily video calls with grandma showing her new plants, activities, and even reading out stories.

She has written funny stories, a few chapters of two new novels, spooky stories, comic books, Chacha Chaudhary stories, and has moved on to write poems.

What is incredible is how imaginative this new life behind doors has been. I don't deny that kids haven't had enough physical activities, and they are missing out on playing out in the open. Yet, they have learnt and adapted.

There are a couple of kids who stay in a building opposite my house. They both stay on two different floors, but their balconies open out to the same side. Throughout the day, they are constantly calling each other, asking questions about daily routines, such as have you had your lunch, what are you having for lunch, what are you doing now, and all such questions, providing an awesome, free entertainment for us.

The other day, they decided to play hide and seek. I admit that this has been the most creative and imaginative hide-n-seek play that I have ever heard. Each took turn crying out, "Alright, I am ready! Guess where I am hiding!" Mind you, this is across balconies and across floors. The kids are at their own houses. And they are just imaging themselves hiding in the places. So the other kid would guess, "Under the bed, inside a cupboard, behind the sofa!" It was so much fun to hear them play!

I was not just astonished at their imagination but extremely proud at seeing them so adaptive and innovative.

We've all been harping about how excessively and utterly boring it has been being stuck inside the four walls. But we forget that windows, doors, balconies, and terraces are still open!